Randy Edsall’s first season fractured Maryland football; can he repair it?

[Kingspoint]

Interesting end of season article on the woes of FUCRE. I know some are tired of reading about him...so don't. I just think it's interesting that such an experienced coach has had such a tumultuous year at a school poised expected to be a chamionship contender in the ACC. The following never would have happened at UConn...or if it did, that kid wouldn't have seen the field again for a looooooong time.

"And multiple players cursed out Edsall to his face in the Gossett Team House in separate incidents: one when Edsall met a player about academics and another when Edsall urged a player to eat in the team house." Wow! I bet that never happened at UConn.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...he-repair-it/2011/12/14/gIQAbQscwO_story.html

Feliz navidad!

 

[HartbeatHusky]

Sounds like a Dream Job. lol.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

He really is a PR disaster.

Whoever came up with that hair brained idea to post that letter on facebook (and subsequently open the window for people to express their disgust) should be fired.

Randy bitched and moaned about the media up here. Think he misses the CT horde now? He's done so much damage that he was forced to change one of his long standing policies and will allow the coordinators to talk to the media on Wednesdays. He's knee deep in it now.

 

[bmayuc]

He can't fix it because that would involve showing contrition, admitted mistakes, being humble. At this point in the game im not sure he has that in him.

#TurtleFAIL

 

[HuskyBarker]

Decided to do a search on twitter for Rangoon and saw this from a Terp player.​

DBWilson2

Shocked to see Todd Graham leaving so soon. Was supposed to write a feature on him. Hopefully the #Rangoon follows his lead as one and done

​

 

[noeynox]

Edsall’s detractors, who grew more vocal as the season spiraled, painted him as an arrogant and out-of-touch authoritarian more interested in making himself the face of the program than in putting the players he inherited in positions to succeed.

That can't be the Randy Edsall we all knew and loved now could it?

I think some of the stuff in the article is unfair. In particular about the dreadlocks, but the guy speaks of himself in the third party in that article. Does he think he is Ricky Henderson or something? And he wonders why people think he is self serving/promoting.

Randy Edsall got away with being a total at all times at UConn. I can't speak to what the players (collectively) thought of him, but media and (some )fans found him hard stomach. When he left UConn, I had a strong feeling that more than any X's and O's this would be his biggest problem. If you're going to be a dick, you better win big off the rip. Otherwise, all those reporters whose football IQ you like to openly question are going to have their way with you when you go 2-10. He inherited a mess, with academic problems and it appears other extra curricular stuff as well, but one of the things that bothered me about Edsall was that he did not appear to appreciate how good he had it here. He got away with doing things here that have gone over like a fart in church in his first year at UMD. Allowing assistants to speak to the media? That was really a big deal, he couldn't throw the local media a bone? Well he's basically being forced to do so now.

Now, he has painted himself into a corner after just one year. If they win 5 games next year, he could conceivably get fired.

 

[sportsart]

Kingspoint......What did I tell you about stirring the pot.... (grin)

The end of the article says a lot. Failing academic tests and doing drugs appeared to be acceptable.

Cleaning house will take a bit longer. We now know the real reason the Fridge was let go.

 

[whaler11]

Decided to do a search on twitter for Rangoon and saw this from a Terp player.​

DBWilson2

Shocked to see Todd Graham leaving so soon. Was supposed to write a feature on him. Hopefully the #Rangoon follows his lead as one and done

Maryland Player? He looks like a communications student at Syracuse.

 

[HuskyBarker]

Maryland Player? He looks like a communications student at Syracuse.

oops my bad only looked at the search results and not his profile saw DB & him in dark football gear thought he as on the team

 

[whaler11]

oops my bad only looked at the search results and not his profile saw DB & him in dark football gear thought he as on the team

He also thinks McCombs may be better than Brown or Todman..... whatever that says about any other analysis he may come up with.

 

[ZooCougar]

Just because Edsall goes in and instills discipline where there may not have been doesn't mean he is what Maryland needs. The thesis of the article was sound, Randy fractured Maryland football. If you are a Randybot then you probably think that Maryland will be alright as long he stays long enough to fill the roster with "his guys". But, I doubt the fanbase will ever come back to him unless he is stringing together 11 win seasons.

Change is good for an organization. But toxic leadership isn't. Randy appears to be toxic. Real leadership is getting people to do something because they want to.

There was a great article about a month ago on Edsall... The author asked one of his players in the locker room if they were allowed to wear jewelry and hats outside of the football complex. The player answered with something like "He can't do that to us, this is a public university". Edsall totally lost the locker room.

It's one thing to go all "Junction Boys" on a team. But in order to get some buy in down the road, you need to have something to show for it. Edsall has a 2-10 record.

Destroying the football team and then building it from the ground up isn't what Maryland had in mind, I am pretty sure they were looking to him take what they had and make it better...

They only reason he isn't a one and done is that they can't afford to fire him..

 

[mattp]

am i the only one that gets frustrated when i read things like "strait-laced" in a national publication? i know the post is a rag, but i thought they at least had an editor. that aside, it sounds like more of the problems were due to the players being out of control than on Edsall being a a "strait-laced" control freak. a lot of it sounds like spoiled athletes whining about nonsense. does any of us really think he has a problem with dreadlocks? it really brings home that Edsall had no idea how good he had it. i think he'll be fine if he's given enough time to get his players in, but i don't know that he'll get that time. it might take two years and i think if they have another season of 2-4 wins he might be gone

 

[Skiblets]

I think Randy made the classic mistake of misunderstanding his mandate. This was not a tear it down and build it up job.

 

[huskymedic]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/...-terps-football-woes-20111218,0,6696942.story

 

[ZooCougar]

I think Randy made the classic mistake of misunderstanding his mandate. This was not a tear it down and build it up job.

Or perhaps he never intended to tear it down but ended up doing so anways...

I have a hard time believing that the whole roster was comprised of thugs with tats and dreads that never went to class.

You see what Edsall did happen in military quite often. A new Battalion Commander comes in and he or she never misses a chance to say how awful the previous one was, and how the old policies just won't cut it anymore. Whether the new one is right or wrong, he or she just ends up alienating alot of people in the process.

Except for the few recruits that he roped in after he was hired, every player on that roster was recruited by Fridge and his team. To badmouth the program like Edsall did was a terrible decision on his part.

 

[noeynox]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/...-terps-football-woes-20111218,0,6696942.story

You think Friedgen reads that and laughs out loud reading that. Personally, I want to thank Anderson for hiring Edsall. It is the only way he was leaving here.

 

[Robertelamin]

ERIC PRISBELL
Do you need an image makeover?

RANDY EDSALL
No, I don't need an image makeover.

Randy doesn't realize that everyone in Maryland hates him.

 

[Carl Spackler]

While 5-7 is much lower than anyone's expectations for the 2011 UConn Huskies, and however you feel about that......

I don't think there can be a more clear compare/contrast study as to what could have been and may have been had things been approached differently at my alma mater by the incoming and returning coaching staff and players, than to look at what happened with our outgoing coach.

It would have been very, very easy for a 2-4, UConn husky program to pack it in early in teh season, realizing that the program was moving in an entirely new direction, new coaches, new players........throw the season away, all wise and knowing fans at that time, proclaimed that the new coach lost the team, players were not all in.

Those all knowing fans......like usual, were wrong. They finished the season 3-3 and fought hard for each other, for their coaches, and for us - the fans. Through it all from week 1 to week 12.

I fully expect to improve on that 5-7 next year. Much improve on it.

It will be interesting to take the field at Byrd stadium in September. Makes me kind of tingly just to think about it. Makes me want to go run at lunch today.

 

[Palatine]

Wow, read the comment section. And you think the Boneyard was hard on Edsall.

 

[businesslawyer]

While 5-7 is much lower than anyone's expectations for the 2011 UConn Huskies, and however you feel about that......

I don't think there can be a more clear compare/contrast study as to what could have been and may have been had things been approached differently at my alma mater by the incoming and returning coaching staff and players, than to look at what happened with our outgoing coach.

It would have been very, very easy for a 2-4, UConn husky program to pack it in early in teh season, realizing that the program was moving in an entirely new direction, new coaches, new players........throw the season away, all wise and knowing fans at that time, proclaimed that the new coach lost the team, players were not all in.

Those all knowing fans......like usual, were wrong. They finished the season 3-3 and fought hard for each other, for their coaches, and for us - the fans. Through it all from week 1 to week 12.

I fully expect to improve on that 5-7 next year. Much improve on it.

It will be interesting to take the field at Byrd stadium in September. Makes me kind of tingly just to think about it. Makes me want to go run at lunch today.

Maybe I'm misremembering, but I don't think there were people saying that P "lost" his players. I think there were many saying that the UConn players looked "lost" trying to implement the changes that were being put upon them. Two totally different things,

 

[Carl Spackler]

I recall reading people posting that the players weren't buying into the new coaching staff. Maybe it wasn't around here. But I recall reading it.

 

[ZooCougar]

I recall reading people posting that the players weren't buying into the new coaching staff. Maybe it wasn't around here. But I recall reading it.

There definitely were some grumblings, but the two situations were incomparable in scale.

 

[mattp]

It would have been very, very easy for a 2-4, UConn husky program to pack it in early in teh season, realizing that the program was moving in an entirely new direction, new coaches, new players........throw the season away, all wise and knowing fans at that time, proclaimed that the new coach lost the team, players were not all in.

i think this team showed a lot of heart in sticking with the season this season and last. if you remember at one point one of the louder posters here predicted a 2 win season for us last year. i think we also showed a lot of heart in the Cinci game. we dug a big hole, and with it being the last game of the season, on the road, with no bowl eligibility, it would have been very easy to pack it in, but we actually made a game of it and i think the players deserve a lot of credit for that.

 

[mattp]

Maybe I'm misremembering, but I don't think there were people saying that P "lost" his players. I think there were many saying that the UConn players looked "lost" trying to implement the changes that were being put upon them. Two totally different things,

i seem to recall quite a few posters saying that P had lost the players. of course there's always quite a few idiots saying any given thing after a rough start (see my above reference to our two win 2010 prediction)

 

[Colt45]

There is no doubt that the uconn roster is filled with high character guys that work their tails off to be successful. They definitely have that "never say die" attitude. Other programs, and Maryland is one of them, have more talent but not nearly the character that we do. Look at the bowl game against South Carolina a few years ago. They were much more talented but didn't have the will to win at that point in the season. As much as everyone wants to bash Edsalls recruiting classes, they are filled with guys who want to work hard and be the best they can be.